Natural-Edge Bowls

This kind of bowl seems to give non-turners the most problems visualizing how it's made. While people are amazed by hollow vessels, they can usually understand how they are made, once it is explained to them. That is not the case with natural-edge bowls, particularly once I explain to them that the edge was not carved, but forms naturally.

Natural-edge bowls have an opening that may or may not be round--it is often oval, and can also be irregular. The height of the points on the edge is also not uniform, and can form a curve, or can be irregularly bumpy. It may also consist of bark.

A natural-edge bowl is turned with the rim being created by the outmost edge (the bark or the layers just below it), and the base of the bowl being towards the middle of the tree. When you do this, the natural shape of the tree automatically creates the shape of the bowl. That explanation should be as clear as mud!

Below are some thumbnails of various natural-edge bowls. Click on any image you wish to and a larger picture will appear. You can then either come back to this page and select another item you wish to view, or directly move on to the next item. If there is an asterisk next to the thumbnail name, it means that I have written more than just what the wood is.